Instead of the work that should have immortalized the Song Festival of the century – disagreements about the idea and 5 thousand. euro advance | Culture

According to the artist L. Šlipavičiūtė, the fundamental problem of this whole story is that until now the creative work of artists is not valued as ordinary work, for which it is necessary to pay the agreed remuneration.

“This is the most painful, because both myself and my colleagues have to face similar stories all the time. When it happened, I felt the obligation to speak about it publicly and raise the issue publicly,” 15min said the artist.

Neofresco commemorating the centenary of the Song Festival

At the beginning of this year, the organizers of the Song Festival themselves found an artist and offered to create a neo-fresco for the centenary of the Song Festival, which would decorate one of the walls of the Lithuanian National Cultural Center.

According to L. Šlipavičiūtė, in addition to creative solutions, she also had to take care of issues of harmonizing the architectural project and obtaining permits to paint on the building located in the heritage zone.

According to her, at the meeting with the client, she immediately said that more time would be needed to complete all the work, but it is possible to catch up if both parties complete their work on time.

According to the original plan, the work was supposed to be completed on June 1, but the author managed to push the final date to mid-June.

However, according to her, the trouble started when the Lithuanian National Cultural Center kept delaying signing the contract.

Elena Tita’s photo/Lina Šlipavičiūtė

“I made a mistake, I started working without signing a contract and without receiving an advance payment. I believed the word of honor, because it was necessary to hurry, and the contract was negotiated for an extremely long time (of course, with delays from the customer’s side!), because the customer is such an institution that we would not really suspect of possible breach of word,” L. Šlipavičiūtė wrote on her social network.

According to her, she received an answer to the question about the advance payment that the money could be paid out only at the beginning of March.

“I’m rethinking the situation – well, since we don’t have a time reserve, then we can formalize the date of advance payment in the contract, and start the work much sooner.” In short, it’s a bit of a stressful situation, but we’ll manage, and it’s nice and meaningful to contribute to the celebration of the centenary of the Song Festival with your art! We consult in the team and decide to do it,” he wrote on his Facebook the artist writes in her profile.

According to the artist, it was agreed with the Lithuanian National Cultural Center that the price of the entire work is 10 thousand. euros.

According to the artist, it was agreed with the Lithuanian National Cultural Center that the price of the entire work is 10 thousand. euros. According to L. Šlipavičiūtė, this amount also included the preparation of documentation, all materials necessary for the implementation of the work, rental of construction equipment, etc.

“After taking into account all taxes, the real earnings of the team for three months of work should have reached about 4 thousand. euros”, said the artist.

After a lot of work, there is a long silence

How 15min said L. Šlipavičiūtė, she signed the contract with the Lithuanian National Cultural Center on February 26, and she received the signed one back from the head of the Center, Saulius Liausos, on February 27.

True, according to her, the contract itself is on February 1. date, however, when signing the contract, she did not pay attention to it herself, and only saw it when a problem arose regarding the implementation of the work itself.

“This happened because the Center itself delayed the coordination of the contract version for a very long time and more than twenty days have passed since the original date,” said the artist, admitting that during that time she worked intensively on this project.

I created several different concepts for this project, put them into a regular format with descriptions, explanations, concept justifications – basically, as always, I presented several options to the clients.

“I created several different concepts for this project, put them into a regular format with descriptions, explanations, concept justifications – basically, as always, I presented several options to the clients. Finally, at the beginning of March, these concepts were presented to the customer,” said the artist.

According to her, after the conversation, it was agreed to develop one of the two concepts and thus extend the work.

After some time, the artist claims to have sent developed several variants of the chosen concept, again with detailed descriptions, project drawings and visualizations.

According to L.Šlipavičiūtė, as an artist, she offered, in her opinion, the most suitable vision for this project, which best reflects the chosen topic.

She received a message from the Lithuanian National Cultural Center that the vision of her work and the message she wants to convey are not suitable, therefore it is proposed to terminate the contract.

“However, the customer may find my solution inappropriate, so he can ask for improvement, change the concept itself – there is nothing wrong with that,” – 15min said the artist, stressing that after she submitted the adjusted version of the project to the Lithuanian National Cultural Center, she received a message from the responsible person that the second version seems suitable, but requires the approval of the head of the Center himself.

“But I did not receive confirmation. There was only a long silence,” said the artist.

Finally, she received a message from the Lithuanian National Cultural Center that the vision of her work and the message she wants to convey are not suitable, so it is proposed to terminate the contract.

“I also offered to work on a version of the concept that they liked better, but I received an answer that although I work well and they like my style, they want a completely different message,” said L. Šlipavičiūtė.

Instead of the agreed 5 thousand advance – 300 EUR

According to the artist, in the current situation, it is possible to break up with the customer only if she honorably pays the agreed advance for the creative work performed, which was stipulated in the signed contract.

However, according to her, one nuance was changed in the contract – the advance can be paid only after the sketches have been agreed.

“It’s a very slippery business, because the sketches can never be reconciled, as happened in my case. You can work for months, but if the customer suddenly changes his mind, all your work will be wasted,” said the artist.

According to her, there are other points in the signed contract which, after consultation with LATGA lawyers, protect the interests of the artist herself.

“It is noted here that the customer must maintain contact, react to the sketches presented by the author, cooperate, react, and if desired – by mutual agreement – change the concept of the work and clearly articulate it. But that’s exactly what they didn’t do,” said the artist.

According to her, one nuance was changed in the contract – the advance payment can be made only after the sketches have been agreed.

When asked what stage the agreement between her and the Lithuanian National Cultural Center is now, L. Šlipavičiūtė said that she was offered to terminate the contract by paying EUR 300 for the work.

However, the artist herself says that she does not agree with such a proposal.

“In my opinion, the customers have broken the contract, so I am asking you to pay me the advance due under the contract, which is EUR 5,000. By the way, this part of the advance was offered by the Lithuanian National Cultural Center,” said L. Šlipavičiūtė.

Saulius Liausa: “The work does not reflect our expectations”

15min after contacting the head of the Lithuanian National Cultural Center, Saulius Liausa, he said that when it was decided to immortalize the centenary Song Festival with a mural on the wall of the building, the artist L. Šlipavičiūtė was invited and an author’s work contract was finally signed with her, which provides for the entire process, how it should be .

Paulius Peleckis/BNS photo/Saulius Liausa

“The first step in the contract is to agree on the artistic decision, then to pay the advance, then the production of the work and the settlement follow. It is true that the work includes the coordination of permits and the supervision of the work done for some time to come,” S. Liausa said.

According to him, at the beginning of March, the author presented two sketches to the employees of the Lithuanian National Cultural Center – more than 20 people – which were discussed and inspected, and it was agreed that the artist would improve both proposed versions and present them again.

The first step in the contract is to agree on the artistic solution, then to pay the advance, then the production of the work and the settlement follow.

“In the end, we got only one option from her, but it was not what we talked about, what we were betting on. The submitted work does not reflect our expectation of what we would like to see depicted on the wall of the Center building. Therefore, we decided to terminate the contract and find a solution on how to pay for the sketchy work performed and the time spent on it,” said S. Liausa.

He emphasized that the author was offered a certain amount, the amount of which was not specified by the manager.

He believes that the artist is being asked for 5 thousand. It is difficult to explain the reward of EUR for a sketch that did not suit the customers.

According to S.Liausa, there can be no talk of an advance payment, because a visualization sketch suitable for both parties, as provided for in the contract, was not agreed upon.

According to S.Liausa, there can be no talk of an advance payment, because a visualization sketch suitable for both parties, as provided for in the contract, was not agreed upon.

According to him, the contract was signed on February 1, so he is surprised by the artist’s interpretation of the signing of this document.

When asked if he is talking to lawyers about this case, S. Liausa noted that the help of lawyers is not needed because everything is written in the contract.

“Rodos, March 5 we received the first proposal for the project from the artist, and about 10 days later – the second one. And at the end of the month, within two weeks, as planned, we answered her that the options offered by her were not satisfactory, so we offered to terminate the contract”, said S. Liausa.